Drake’s Orb: A Broken Captain, A Rebellious Crew, A Doomed Mission
By Alex G Zarate
Publisher: Independently Published
Published Date: July 4, 2025
ASIN: B0FGQL5M1P
Page Count: 368
Triggers: Space deaths, trust issues, rogue AI sass, military PTSD baggage, mysterious glowing orb with zero chill
Star Rating: ★★★★★
Skull Dread Rating: 💀💀 (Orb may or may not eat your soul)
What Did I Just Walk Into?
Captain Drake: Former golden boy of the military, now sulking on a seven-year exile cruise. His new gig? Babysitting a civilian deep-space ship that just wanted a quiet ride. Naturally, peace lasts all of five pages before a giant mystical orb of doom shows up like, “Hey, I heard you liked trauma.” Suddenly, the crew is dying, the AI is acting possessed, and Drake is stuck playing space dad to a bunch of insubordinate civilians who never signed up for his moody leadership style. Think Star Trek with a side of therapy bills.
Here’s What Slapped:
• The Orb itself. It’s creepy, cryptic, and the best character in the book.
• That delicious blend of The Expanse-style grit with the haunted-mystery vibes of Mass Effect.
• Plenty of cinematic space peril. You can practically hear the “dun-dun-dun” soundtrack swelling every time the AI glitches.
• Emotional depth of Drake is less “stoic captain” and more “man on the verge of an interstellar midlife crisis.”
What Could’ve Been Better:
• The crew spends half the book side-eyeing Drake like he’s about to pilot them into a black hole which is fine once or twice but gets repetitive by the seventh mutiny-adjacent conversation.
• The pacing sometimes feels like warp drive zooming ahead in bursts, then stalling in existential monologues.
• Drake’s tragic backstory could’ve used slightly less brooding and slightly more payoff.
Perfect for Readers Who Love:
• Ships where the AI might be trying to kill you… or just prank you.
• The Expanse but with more cryptic shiny space baubles.
• Watching captains get roasted by their own crews.
• Sci-fi thrillers that balance pew-pew lasers with emotional baggage.
Reviewed by Robin for Robin’s Review
EUR 8.54 with 33 percent savings
Print List Price: EUR 12.82 
The Print List Price is the lowest suggested retail price provided by a publisher for a print book format of this title, available on Amazon (e.g. hardcover, paperback, mass market paperback).
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